Academic engagement in the digital era: An analysis of the influence of social networking sites through study discipline and sleep quality

Abstract

The widespread use of Social Networking Sites (SNS) among adolescents has raised concerns about students’ learning processes. This study aims to analyze the impact of SNS use on high school students’ academic engagement, both directly and through the mediating roles of study discipline and sleep quality. This correlational quantitative research involved 375 eleventh-grade students from four public high schools in Semarang City, selected using simple random sampling. Data were collected using standardized questionnaires that had been tested for validity and reliability. The collected data were then analyzed using Hayes’ PROCESS Model 6 in SPSS with 5,000 bootstrap samples. The results revealed that SNS use had a significant positive effect on academic engagement (direct effect β = 0.447, p < .001), and there was also a significant indirect effect through study discipline and sleep quality simultaneously (serial indirect effect β = 0.304). These findings indicate that the impact of SNS on academic engagement is not entirely negative but is influenced by students’ ability to manage study time and maintain healthy sleep patterns. This study enriches the literature on academic engagement in the digital era and provides practical implications for schools in developing programs on digital literacy, study discipline, and students’ sleep health, as well as serving as a reference for future research